Newspaper Stories Protested in Full-Page Ads : Airport Terminal Architects Object to Articles

Leason Pomeroy Associates, the Orange architecture firm hired to design a new passenger terminal at John Wayne Airport, is buying full-page newspaper advertisements claiming that it has been blamed unfairly for problems with the project.

The ads, published in the Orange County Register Tuesday and in The Times Orange County Edition today, challenges what Pomeroy characterizes as “myths” surrounding the terminal project.

Responding to several newspaper articles about the problems with the project, Pomeroy bought the ads “because we felt we’d been victimized in the press,” said Walter L. Hannen, corporate general manager of the firm.

“We felt our reputation was being dissected and that the press had sensationalized this,” said Hannen, referring to articles published in the Register and The Times.

Pomeroy was selected by the county in 1987 to design the new terminal building, part of a $300-million airport expansion.

The firm handed in its plans late, and the lowest construction bid came in nearly $18 million higher than the $41 million that Pomeroy estimated that the project would cost.

Moving to Cut Costs

Pomeroy and airport officials are now scrambling to cut costs, and architectural niceties such as marble walls have been erased from the plans. Even so, the terminal will cost at least $49 million to build.

Pomeroy’s new public relations agency, Nelson Ralston Robb Communications of Costa Mesa, said the firm would run more newspaper ads next week. The firm was hired after the airport controversy erupted.

Leason F. Pomeroy III, the firm’s founder, was away from his office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

The ad campaign is part of a concerted effort by Pomeroy to restore its reputation as one of the county’s more successful home-grown architecture firms.

Although the $3.5-million terminal design contract was not lucrative, Pomeroy wanted it badly because it was a prestige project for a firm that had designed few high-profile buildings.

But almost as soon as the firm began work on the terminal last year, an architect working for the construction management consortium overseeing the airport expansion began writing memos to his superiors saying Pomeroy was lagging behind schedule and had too few people working on the job.

Pomeroy last month agreed to pay the county $425,000 in penalties and reimbursements because of the design problems and missed deadlines. To trim the building’s cost, the firm also agreed to forgo payment on an additional $350,000 of work that the county had required.

Pomeroy in turn blamed the project problems on two of its consultants. It said cost estimator Lee Saylor Inc. of Concord was responsible for the faulty construction estimate. It blamed Cygna Consulting Engineers of San Francisco for holding up the architectural plans.

Both firms have denied the allegations.

Under a headline reading, “Setting the record straight,” Pomeroy’s newspaper ads protest what the firm contends are inaccurate perceptions about the firm and its problems with the airport terminal.

One of those “myths,” according to the ad, was that “Leason Pomeroy Associates had no experience in airport design and was selected by the county because of political maneuvering.”

No Experience

Pomeroy has no experience designing airports, Hannen acknowledged Tuesday. But two prominent design firms that it hired as consultants on the terminal had such experience, and Hannen said that has not been stressed enough in newspaper reports.

Another “myth,” the ad said, was that “Because of the delays caused by the . . . design team, the terminal will not be completed on time.”

Although the contractor, Taylor Woodrow Construction Corp., has said it may not finish the terminal in time for its scheduled April, 1990, opening, airport officials insist the project is on schedule.

In one of its most important claims, Leason Pomeroy stuck doggedly to its contention that, although it accepts full responsibility for the problems in designing the terminal, it is really not to blame for them.

“Our responsibility was to manage the consultants, but it was not our responsibility to do their work for them,” Hannen said.

Assistant Airport Manager Jan Mittermeier on Tuesday reiterated statements that the county doesn’t care who is to blame. Since Pomeroy’s name is on the contract, she said, Pomeroy has ultimate responsibility.

No Agreement

Pomeroy is now trying to get all of its consultants to pay part of the $775,000 in penalties the county assessed Pomeroy. No agreement has been reached.

As for the possibility of damage done to the firm’s reputation, “that’s impossible to accurately judge,” Hannen said.

“We don’t feel we’ve lost existing clients, and it’s been frustrating rather than threatening,” he said.

“Internally, we reached a conclusion that we were disappointed in the way the news stories had run,” Hannen said. “There was stuff in the newspaper that was missing or misleading, and there was a lot of sensationalism and negativism. So these ads are the result.”

The campaign will be moderately expensive. In addition to the cost of hiring a new public relations firm, a full-page ad in the Register costs about $8,800. In The Times Orange County Edition, such an ad costs about $4,175.